There were thirteen humans desperately trying to escape the pursuit of the Great abomination.

Or rather, there had been.

Without anyone noticing the reason, one of the Masters stumbled and fell. No one had attacked her, and the pursuing corpses were still out of sight. The woman grabbed her neck and screamed.

A moment later, she rose with a strange smile on her lips.

Where a radiant soul core had been, there was now nothing but spreading darkness.

'Curse it all...'

Sunny commanded the sole shadow that had remained with him to wrap itself around his body, and ran.

Someone's hoarse shout reached his ears:

"S-split up!"

'No! You fools...'

The logic of that desperate call was simple and not without reason. There were seven vessels of the Gate Guardian - eight, now - and twelve surviving humans. If they escaped in different directions, some of them would have a chance to survive.

But it was pointless to apply logic to Great abominations. These beings existed outside any kind of human rationale, outside reason. Only by staying together and helping each other would the survivors have a chance to preserve their lives, no matter how small.

It was already too late to try and explain that to the frightened Masters, though.

While Morgan, Seishan, and the members of Neph's cohort chose to stay close to each other, the other five Ascended turned and ran in different directions.

Not a second later, a dark blur intercepted one of them, and a fountain of blood shot into the air.

Up ahead, Morgan looked back from the saddle of her steel mount and cursed. Then, she hesitated for a moment and jumped off its tall back. The Echo then galloped in the direction of the approaching corpses, lowering its horned head.

As a whirlwind of scarlet sparks rose around her, Seishan stopped and turned around. Her exquisitely beautiful face was cold and somber.

The two of them looked at each other, and then, Seishan slowly raised her hands.

'What are they doing?'

Jet was riding Nightmare, so she was far ahead of the rest of them. Effie was maybe the fastest runner among the group of survivors, so she was ahead of the pursuers, as well.

Only Sunny and Nephis were falling behind. (C) content.

As they ran, Neph's eyes shone with white radiance. She briefly touched Sunny's shoulder, and he felt the nurturing warmth of her flames pour into his soul and body. Instantly, their speed increased.

It was still not enough, though.

Through the shadows, Sunny felt something swift flying toward him from behind. The shadows he had sent to scout were still moments away from reaching him... he knew that he had to use some of his remaining essence and dodge the attack through Shadow Step.

Before he could, however, Seishan outstretched her hands, bringing her thumbs and index fingers together in a perfect triangle. Then, a drop of dark crimson liquid suddenly materialized in the air within the triangle.

Looking at it, Sunny suddenly felt a hint of unknown awe brush against his heart.

The drop of blood swirled, and then, the whole world was suddenly painted in shades of red.

'What... what is this?'

Sunny did not know what the daughter of the Queen of Worms was doing, but he felt as if something vast and terrifying silently moved past him, and then enveloped the white sands of the desert.

There were screams.

The creature lunging at him suddenly slowed down and veered off, then grew still.

He didn't dare turn around.

As Sunny and Nephis reached Seishan, the hurricane of scarlet sparks raging around Morgan formed into scores of beautifully forged swords. The swords trembled slightly, hovering in the air, and then suddenly shot forward like an avalanche of steel.

The shadows arrived, wrapping themselves around Sunny and Nephis.

Saint was also there, standing on a white dune as she drew her bow.

Behind them, a cacophony of noise exploded, and the sand shifted. Several dunes collapsed, with a white cloud rising into the air.

They ran.

***a

"Hurry up!"

"Damn it all..."

"Stop! Look there..."

Sunny cursed as he threw himself to the ground, hitting the sand to slow down.

The sun was setting, and they were still running as fast as they could. His exhaustion had long transformed into something much more dire and primal. Sunny had not even known that an Ascended body could be that drained of... everything.

Neither the augmentation of the burning shadows nor the tenacious nature of Blood Weave were enough to overcome that terrible fatigue anymore.

Even though he had to stop for a dreadful reason, he still welcomed the short moment of falling onto the sand.

A split second later, though, Sunny had to push his battered body into a roll and jump back to his feet.

'Curses...'

Miraculously, they had managed to escape all but one of the taken corpses. The last one still pursued them, never letting the group - now reduced to only seven people - stop and rest for even a minute.

At some point, the heat and the scorching sand had transformed into a lethal threat of their own.

And yet, they persisted... until now.

That was because a second corpse suddenly appeared out of nowhere, barring their path.

The figure standing in front of them was not one of the original seven abominations, though... instead, it was a familiar face.

Sunny let out a tired sigh.

'So he's here, as well...'

Master Xu was staring at them with an eerie smile.

Nephis, Effie, Jet, Morgan, Seishan, Kai, and Sunny... the seven of them had nowhere else to run. One vessel of the Gate Guardian was behind them, and the other was in front of them.

The night was approaching.

"What do we do?"

Kai's voice sounded tense and tired. He could still escape, of course... maybe. The Great being approaching them had to have ways of dealing with flying prey.

Sunny closed his eyes for a moment, then outstretched his hand and summoned the Sin of Solace.

What else was there to do?

He commanded all but one of his shadows to wrap themselves around the white jade of the cursed blade, turning it perfectly black.

"...Kill the bastards."

They had to kill them or die... kill them and die, if need be. Either way worked.

It was better than turning into the skin costumes of the Gate Guardian themselves, anyway.

But Sunny... Sunny wanted to live.